The Doctor's Investment
by kbwehunt
Summary: What exactly did The Doctor do during The Year of the Slow Invasion? Besides playing Wii, that is? He, of course, used his knowledge and experience to create a time-consuming investment to curb his boredom.


**The Doctor's Investment**

During the year of The Slow Invasion, we all know The Doctor spent more time than he cared to in the present day, where time passes slowly and in the right order. He painted fences, played Wii Tennis, broke several soccer-ball related world records. (So many, in fact, that Guinness had the Williams' address saved in their GPS.) The surplus amount of time drove him crazy! That sweet smile of his drooped and rarely found the strength to emerge. He was bored. He had never been bored before, and the excitement of this new emotion quickly faded. He needed an escape. He needed a time-consuming and exciting investment. Then, one lazy night watching movies with Amy and Rory, an idea came to mind.

They had seen this movie about a hundred times, and it had become one of The Doctor's favorites. He liked to point out how one small change in the Time Vortex could have stopped the two lovers from ever meeting. He was in awe at how humans could find such luck in the occurrence of chronological events, his heart melting when he realized this is how his two best friends came together to create the love of his life. Ah humans, so mysterious and beautiful with these emotions.

There was little need to hear the words, since they all knew them by heart; so they opted for cool conversation while they watched. As they dipped their fish fingers in the bowl of custard in The Doctor's lap, The Doctor let out a short, "Mmmm," as his teeth sank into the moist, tender, custard covered meat. He then looked at both Amy and Rory before mentioning, "You know? If I had I restaurant I would only serve fish fingers and custard."

Amy quickly dismisses him by saying, "I can't really see you running a restaurant."

A little hurt at the response, he snaps, "I've ran a restaurant before, who do you think invented the Yorkshire pudding?"

Rory, obviously shocked, questions, "You didn't."

Again, disappointed in their disbelief, replies, "Think about it, savory pudding."

Amy and Rory shrug their shoulders in acceptance, it makes sense. The Doctor does love savory puddings. Then a light comes to Amy's face and a sly dare shines through her eyes as she wonders, "So, Doctor, why don't you? You're going to be here for a while anyway."

"Why Amy, you're brilliant! Why don't we? Geronimo after all, right? This will definitely keep me busy until these bloody cubes do something, anything! I'll go plan the menu," he says too quickly to interrupt.

Rory has been trying to get a word in since the conversation began. Now that The Doctor has walked away, he turns to his beloved wife with a shocked expression across his face. "Are you crazy?" He whispers, "He can't open a restaurant. What is going to happen when he leaves? Who is going to keep it going? How is he going to hire waiters and cooks when he has no money? And for that matter, how will he afford a building, and tables, and cookware, and ingredients?"

"Calm down Rory, don't have a cow. The Doctor can handle himself," she sighs, "As long as he doesn't break another window with that stupid soccer ball, I don't care what he does."

They both laugh, thinking the planning alone would keep The Doctor busy until the cubes fulfill his expectations. Little did they know, his experience and boredom have combined for a desperately fast planning period.

In a little less than a week, The Doctor had sold enough cookies and called in enough "you owe me's" to buy a small building a few blocks from the Williams' home. The building was a little brick building with one large window in it's brick exterior. It was already furnished with a stove, dishwasher, two convection ovens, a sink, a large refrigerator, and a deep freezer. This left little for the group to buy as far as appliances. They did, however, have to shop for silverware, dishes, tables, and chairs. The Doctor set out selling more cookies; and, in two days had a fully stocked restaurant ready to open.

The layout was perfect. The inside was raw brick aside from one drywall focal wall which was, of course, painted TARDIS blue. The chair cushions were the same shade of blue which paired perfectly with the shiny, silver color of the bistro style tables. The tables all housed a small single stem vase with one perfectly picked sunflower. On the walls hung beautiful Van Gogh recreations and a few, unpublished, Van Gogh originals given to The Doctor personally. These he had to call Van Gogh "inspired" art to reduce suspicion. Amy tried to keep him from hanging these, but he was so proud of his collection, he had to refuse.

The food had been ordered, the tables were set, the staff had been hired, and it was time to open the doors. Amy and Rory stood in shock as they gazed upon the payoff of their friend's hard work and dedication. Not to seem too impressed, Amy scoffed, "Well, at least you have your own kitchen to cook in, now. I will never get all that cookie dough off my counters."

"_Your _counters? You haven't cleaned those counters a day in your life," Rory argued.

She rolled her eyes before a look of confusion ran across her face. "Doctor, how did you ever sell enough cookies to pay for all this? I know people like cookies, but this is thousands of dollars a couple of weeks. Surely your IOU's didn't add up to all this."

The Doctor gave a smug grin before answering, "I took the cookies I made in the TARDIS to the planet Malcomida. The people there have little interest in space travel; prefer to stay safe on the ground. Scaredy cats. They have no idea what awaits them, or what good food tastes like for that matter. If I had to eat one more of their kinyesovu surprise I would have puked. I brought my own dinner after that first trip. Anyway, they had never seen a cookie before, and they bought them by the case. That with the fact that a Malcomida pronce is worth a hundred pound, meant that I had enough for all this and more. Impressed yet?"

"Eh," Amy announced, feigning boredom. She was actually quite amazed at the idea this doctor of hers had. She wondered why she wasn't used to this kind of announcement by now, but it never seemed to get old to her.

"So, um, what about a menu?" Rory puzzled, hoping to find something The Doctor had forgotten. It would feel so good, just once, if The Doctor wasn't perfect and he could seem superior to him. Just this one time, but no. Before Rory had time to bask in the greatness, The Doctor pulled a stack of beautifully made TARDIS blue menus from behind the hostess podium. He hid the disappointment with a sassy remark of, "You know, people will eventually get tired of that shade of blue."

"Bite your tongue, Rory. This color is always in style. It's beautiful. It's the color of my TARDIS," The Doctor whined. He was hurt anyone would have anything negative to say about the color of his sexy. He quietly handed the menus to his friends to look over while eying Rory, daring him to say something else about the restaurant. Rory noticed the look, and tucked his head into the menu avoiding confrontation.

The menu was as eloquently chosen as the décor. Every item reflected The Doctor and his adventures perfectly. There was a section specifically for savory puddings, including fish fingers and vanilla custard, and Yorkshire pudding. The appetizers included things such as "Sunflower salad" topped with sunflower petals and sunflower seeds, and a "Churchill Salad" which was grapes and nuts with crumbled Stilton cheese. Aside from fish fingers, the entree's were foods from different countries and time periods. The desserts were The Doctors personal favorites to come up with. He offered homemade Jammie Dodgers, "always bring a banana to a party" splits, and TARDIS blue velvet cupcakes. He even created a child menu with things such as Dalekanium pizza with a complementary Pompeii Sundae. When asked why he would reveal information about Daleks and such on the menu he simply stated, "Pepperoni looks like Dalekanium, an only children could appreciate my wittiness. They know what I'm talking about even if their parents don't."

The Doctor was giddy that he finally had something to do. He was good to his staff and often helped as much as possible. His favorite part was walking around and meeting his customers. He would tell his wild tales of how he invented the meal they were enjoying or how he was served their dessert originally by an ancient queen. The business was a success. Amy and Rory could no longer hide their amazement. The Doctor finally had something to fulfill his time, and Amy and Rory had a new date spot. Things were going smoothly with booming success until that fateful day the cubes began to misbehave...


End file.
